Lapid, champion of the middle class

Isabel Kershner

RAMAT GAN, Israel: With his good looks and suave manner, Yair Lapid had long been a celebrity and symbol of success, building a strong following as a prominent journalist and the host of a popular television show.

But by the time the polls closed on Tuesday, it was clear Mr Lapid had reinvented himself as one of the most powerful political leaders in the country, leveraging his celebrity and a populist message that resonated.

The quintessential Israeli ... Yair Lapid has transformed his celebrity into political success. Photo: AFP

Mr Lapid, 49, was the surprise of the Israeli election. His party placed second, when polls said it would come in fourth. He had predicted he would do better with his outreach to the middle class and his emphasis on social justice and the rising inequality. He was right. His centrist Yesh Atid party won 19 seats in the 120-seat Parliament, according to preliminary results, positioning Mr Lapid as the chief powerbroker in the formation of the next governing coalition.

Mr Lapid's stronghold seems to have been the Tel Aviv area, with preliminary results showing he garnered about a quarter of the votes cast in Ramat Gan and similar suburbs of Israel's largely secular metropolis.

Related Articles

For many in this generation, Mr Lapid became the quintessential Israeli. His father, Tommy, was a Holocaust survivor who went on to serve as justice minister. His mother, Shulamit, is a well-known novelist. A year ago, when Mr Lapid decided to quit television and enter politics, he set himself the mission of representing the country's middle class.

He presented a common appeal, refreshing for an Israeli politician. As the author of a widely read column in the weekend supplement of the newspaper Yediot Aharonot, he wrote a column under a title that became his catchphrase: “Where's the money?”

Advertisement

He wrote: “This is the big question asked by Israel's middle class, the same sector on whose behalf I am going into politics. Where's the money? Why is it that the productive sector, which pays taxes, fulfills its obligations, performs reserve duty and carries the entire country on its back, doesn't see the money?”

You will now receive updates fromBreaking News Alert

Breaking News Alert

Mr Lapid harnessed the frustration of hundreds of thousands of Israelis who took to the streets in the social-justice protests of the northern summer of 2011. When he founded Yesh Atid (There Is a Future) last year , he adopted and sharpened the popular demands for a more equal sharing of the burden, meaning an end to automatic military exemptions for thousands of ultra-Orthodox students who opt for full-time Torah study, as well as demands for better public education and an end to tax increases.

When the polls indicated Yesh Atid would garner about a dozen seats in the next Parliament, Mr Lapid insisted it would win 20 or more.

On the peace process with the Palestinians, Mr Lapid has also stuck to the middle ground, presenting safe positions within the consensus: he says he favours negotiations for a Palestinian state while retaining the large West Bank settlement blocs under Israeli control, and he opposes any division of Jerusalem.

And while his father was known for staunch secularism, Mr Lapid is more diverse and inclusive: orthodox and ultra-orthodox rabbis are among Yesh Atid's top members.

Mr Lapid, a married father of three, is an amateur boxer and is known for his casual chic black clothing. Born in Tel Aviv to Yosef, known as Tommy, a Holocaust survivor of Hungarian descent who came to Israel in 1948, and Shulamit, he began his career as a print journalist.

Why is it that the productive sector, which pays taxes, fulfills its obligations, performs reserve duty and carries the entire country on its back, doesn't see the money?

Yair Lapid

He then became a popular talk show host and news anchor.

After his father died in 2008, at 77, Mr Lapid wrote Memories After My Death the story of his father's life from his days in the ghetto of Budapest through to his period as minister of justice in Ariel Sharon's government.

On Tuesday, Channel 2 aired a pretaped interview with Mr Lapid. Speaking of his father, Mr Lapid said: “Four days before he died he told me – and he was a dramatic man, he loved great dramatic gestures – he said to me, 'Yairi, I am leaving for you a family and a state.' ”

In another telling exchange a few years ago, when Mr Lapid interviewed his father on television, he asked a question he asked of all his interviewees: “What is Israeli in your view?”